Nepal flood: UN seeks $50m, warns of disease risk

The United Nations appealed Friday for nearly $50 million to help more than 84,000 people in Nepal hit by catastrophic flooding, warning that winter was approaching and that disease risks were rising in affected areas.

The August 26 floods on the China-Nepal border were triggered by a glacial mountain collapse. The reported toll has reached 1,308 dead and 5,624 missing, according to earlier figures from Nepal's disaster authority and Chinese state media.

The UN said the money would support cash assistance, food, shelter, clean water, healthcare and other life-saving help for the worst-hit communities. It said roads, bridges and hydropower dams had been destroyed, and that communities near the epicentre remained cut off.

Health authorities are watching fever and diarrhoea in displacement centres, the UN appeal said. It also warned that human remains and thousands of dead livestock still lying in debris raised the risk of communicable disease outbreaks.

A UN preliminary assessment put building damage from Nepal's floods at $158 million alone. It warned that total losses, including damage to roads, bridges and agricultural land and humanitarian costs, would be far higher. Nepal has suggested the reconstruction bill could run into billions of dollars.